Stone Weathering Evaluation with UPV measurements: a Comparison between Direct and Indirect method

The evaluation of the Conservation of the Cultural and Environmental Heritage needs of techniques that don't cause damage either to the façade of building or monuments. Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity measurement (UPV) represents a useful and easy to handle Non-Destructive Technique (NDT) of investigation to evaluate the state of decay of buildings and monuments: it needs a portable instrument connected to laptop and short time of execution. In particular the UPV measurements in transmission can be used to evaluate the decay of the stone, one of the most representative elements of the Cultural and Environmental Heritage, both in situ (with indirect method on building or monuments) and in laboratory (with direct method on stone specimens artificially decayed). Aim of this work is to make a comparison between the two different methods used in the evaluation of UPV in the stone. The interpretation of the results has led to obtain a relation taking into account the mineralogical composition and the porosity of the stone analysed.